HIGH TIMES Cannabis Cup Raided in Amsterdam

According to representatives for HIGH TIMES magazine, sponsors of the 24th Annual Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, the event will continue tonight with a scheduled concert at the Melkweg concert hall (Lijnbaansgracht 234), followed by a full day of the expo (including voting) at the Borchland (Borchlandweg) on Thursday, the final day of the competition. An additional voting station will be set up starting at 2PM on Thursday at the Melkweg, which will remain open until the beginning of the official Cannabis Cup awards ceremony at 8PM. (read more)

…police in Amsterdam are in the process of raiding the 24th annual High Times Cannabis Cup Expo. Possession of marijuana has been decriminalized in the Netherlands. But according to tweets on the scene, “everyone will have their buds confiscated, but no one will be charged or fined. This is the first time this has happened in 24 years.”

We broke the news on NORML SHOW LIVE this morning and spoke with Tim Martin of John Doe Radio, who has been in contact with numerous attendees in Amsterdam, including Scott from Rare Dankness Seeds, who called in live to the show (listen here). According to Scott, much of the Dutch concern is over the concentrates – butane hash oil, for instance – that is considered a “hard drug” in Holland.

“They herded everybody toward one exit, like you’re getting on a ski lift at Vail… then one by one they had about 40 cops there for a little talk and search… People were dropping grams and grams of hash on the ground… baggies littering the floor… people were smoking it if you had it because you weren’t rolling out with it!”

According to Scott there has been one arrest of a vendor who was caught with a lot of “shake” (leaves and stems) which, according to Dutch law, are to be immediately disposed of. Other reports indicate that there were checks of individuals to ensure they weren’t violating the 5-gram personal possession limit and checks of vendors for compliance with the 500-gram vendor possession limit.

It should be noted that none of this is precipitated by any change in Dutch law. These limits on personal and vendor possession, disposal of trimmings, and prohibitions on cannabis concentrates have existed throughout the 24-year history of the Cannabis Cup.

Hum, what to say? I believe that the USA must have had some part in this in some way?
I find it very odd to say the least that one day the chief of Dutch police wakes up from bed and is like “I feel like raiding a High Times cannabis cup today”.???
Who’s to know and why and what the f**k… 24years and then bam! Cops decide they want to get high; but for free so they steel all your stuff. I would think that the Dutch cops would know this is NOT going to sit well with the people.
Dear Dutch police,
You are NOT going to scare the people into hiding, you are NOT going to make us stop fighting, and you are defiantly not going to stop the plant from growing!
Grow up and smell the flowers.

So, the Netherlands thinks I’m going to bring “social ills” with me if I go as a weed tourist? How about I don’t go at all? Without the weed there is no reason to go. I’ll vacation somewhere else and spend my money there.

The raid just makes the point that other countries need to find their own source for the supply of their own cannabis consumers. The Dutch government is sick of the nuisances of having foreigners get their safe supply of cannabis from the Netherlands, and Minister Ivo Opstelten is merciless regarding the millions of euros in lost business and the hundreds of lost jobs. This should just create more solidarity to pressure the U.N. and other governments to legalize. Like maybe people, probably more Brits visit A’dam than North Americans, but people in general didn’t really have to give a shit that much as long as they could go to a country with an essentially legalized cannabis policy such as the Netherlands or Denmark or Switzerland. Switzerland made the switch to citizens only several years ago, under pressure from prohibitionists and its own nationals who were irritated by the problems caused by drugs tourism.

Time to make the changes for legalization is now.

Right now.

Cannabis is not going away just because of crackdowns, it’ll just go back underground, and we will go backwards and relinquish our progress of taking it out of the hands of crime networks.

Cannabis prohibition is a lost cause. Everyone agrees.

The 16 some states and federal territory (D.C.) are not going to reverse their laws for D.C or the U.N. prohibitionists. Neither U.N. nor D.C. is creating the jobs at the local level. All politics is local. People will do what they have to do to get on. Cannabis prohibition is no more than only on the books, just like blue laws. The sooner you legalize, the sooner you will stop pissing away money.

Maybe the Cannabis Cup will be held in Libya or in Egypt in the near future?
The Cannabis Cup should be like the Olympics and have it every four years at different places.
There will also be local, state, and national competition.
Reefer Madness will become the dark horror of the past and shall be forever buried.
Oh what a dream!

Abolish the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 and the DEA because it was all a foolish mistake.